Improvement in ditching-machines



EN rrrcn.

HENRY H. GRAY, OF MIDDLEVILLE, MINNESOTA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DlTCHlNG-MACHINES.

l Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,701, datedJanuary 12,1875; application tiled December 15, 1874.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY H. GRAY, of Middleville, in the county ofWright and in the State of Minnesota, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Ditching-Machines 5 and do hereby declare. thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangementof a machine for ditching in marshes, as will be hereinafter more fullyset forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure l is a perspective view of my machine, and Fig. 2 is an enlargedperspective view of the spade.

A represents a frame of any suitable dimen- `sions, some of thecross-bars of which project beyond the side beams, and carry wheels orrollers a a. These wheels or rollers run on a track composed of twoparallel bed-pieces, B B, having each, along its outer edge, a rail, G,and along the inner edge a bar, D, the side beams of the frame A fittingbetween the rails G and bars D, and the wheels or rollers a, runningupon the railsC (l. On the frame or carriage A is erected a verticalframe, E, running longitudinally therewith, and at one end of the sameis pivoted a derrick, G, in which is a vertical beam, H, projecting asuitable distance above and below the horizontal beam of the derrick. Onthis vertical beam H is a sliding head, I, connected, by means oftoggle-joints b b, with two levers, J and J', which are pivoted to thederrick, and so arranged thereon that the head will be moved up and downby pressing down upon said levers. By pressing down the lever J the headI is lowered, and by pressing down the lever J the head is raised. Theouter end of the horizontal beam of the derrick is steadied by means ofpins a: m, as shown, while moving the head up and down. At the lower endof the head I is fastened the spade K, the lower end of which istoothed, the better to penetrate the ground. It is made longer in thecenter than at the sides, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the center toothwill strike the ground first, and then the side teeth, one after theother, whereby theentrance of the spade into the ground is rendered veryeasy. The spade is provided with backward-projecting flanges d d alongits sides, and between the upper ends of said anges is hinged or pivoteda grappler, L, the lower edge of which is bent inward to form, as itwere, a bottom for the boX formed by the anged spade and grappler. Fromthe grappler L projects a lever, M, which extends toward the rear, andpasses through a staple, e, attached to the derrick, as shown. The leveris notched at intervals to catch on said staple. On the under side ofthe carriage is arranged a follower, N, operated by means of a lever, O.y The operation of the machine is substantially as follows: The derrickbeing thrown in against the vertical frame E, and the horizontal beam ofthe derrick held between the pins d d, the lever J is pressed down,which lowers the head I and presses the spade K into the ground. Thelever or rod M having been caught on the staple e by one of its notchesx, the grappler L is opened by the downward movement of the spade. Whenthis movement is completed the grappler is closed by means of the leveror rod 0, operating the follower N to force the grappler forward againstthe spade, thus retaining the muck or soil in the spade. By means of thelever J the spade is now raised, when the derrick is thrown outward andthe rod M pulled to open the grappler and empty the spade outside of theditch.

The machine is moved along the track by means of a lever-frame, R,hinged to the earriage A by a bail, P, and worked in pins or teeth 'L't' projecting from the inner sides of the bars I) D of the track; or itmay be moved or drawn by a rope, connecting it to a capstan.

The two sides of the track are connected by suitable cross-bars, andmade in sections of any desired length. lOne of such sections only maybe used, in which case it may be moved along by a rope and capstan.Where the marsh has no water, two or more sections may be used byrunning the machine from one to the other, and then moving the rearsecton to' the front again, and so on.

Having thusfully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The spade K, having its lower edge toothed and made longerA in thecenter than at the sides, substantially as and for the purposes hereinset forth.

2. The combination of the toothed spade K, provided with side ilanges dd, and the grappler L, hinged between the upper ends of said flanges,substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. The combination of the swinging derrick G with vertical beam H,sliding head I with spade K, toggle-joints b b, and levers J J', allconstructed and arranged to operate substan` tially as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

HENRY H. GRAY.

Witnesses D. B. FARMER, M. PIERCE.

